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This 'Cold Tube' can beat the summer heat without relying on air conditioning:
"Air conditioners work by cooling down and dehumidifying the air around us—an expensive and not particularly environmentally friendly proposition," explains project co-lead Adam Rysanek, assistant professor of environmental systems at UBC's school of architecture and landscape architecture, whose work focuses on future energy systems and green buildings. "The Cold Tube works by absorbing the heat directly emitted by radiation from a person without having to cool the air passing over their skin. This achieves a significant amount of energy savings."
The Cold Tube is a system of rectangular wall or ceiling panels that are kept cold by chilled water circulating within them. Since heat naturally moves by radiation from a hotter surface to a colder surface, when a person stands beside or under the panel, their body heat radiates towards the colder panel. This creates a sensation of cooling like cold air flowing over the body even if the air temperature is quite high.
Although these types of cooling panels have been used in the building industry for several decades, what makes the Cold Tube unique is that it does not need to be combined with a dehumidification system. Just as a cold glass of lemonade would condense water on a hot summer day, cooling down walls and ceilings in buildings would also condense water without first drying out the air around the panels. The researchers behind the Cold Tube conceived of an airtight, humidity-repelling membrane to encase the chilled panels to prevent condensation from forming while still allowing radiation to travel through.
A new cooling system for your home?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2020, @11:59AM (10 children)
This is buried somewhat down in the article:
No wonder it felt 'comfortable' in the tube. The air temp was comfortable, and what the tube did was shield the user from the suns rays. And without incident solar radiation, of course someone standing in the shade of the tube will report feeling cooler.
For those of us more accustomed to 35C (95F) and above being the "hot and uncomfortable" zone, an air temp of 30C (86F) is cool and comfortable all by itself.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 20 2020, @12:27PM (2 children)
Psychology is a big part of comfort.
Post menopause, my wife isn't comfortable in the house unless it's under 72F in the summer, and over 76F in the winter.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday August 20 2020, @01:14PM (1 child)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 20 2020, @03:21PM
Humidity is constant - at 72F she feels hot, but only if it's hot outside. at 76F she feels cold, but only if it's cold outside. Some of this could be radiant heating/cooling near the windows, but she complains of the temperature when she's far from the windows... Yes, menopause screws up thermal regulation pretty badly, but some of this is overcompensation.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2020, @12:58PM (3 children)
You're on crack, 30C is unbearable. Anything over 22C is too hot.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2020, @01:13PM (2 children)
Do note the "For those of us more accustomed" part.
Tis all what you are accustomed to. Where I'm at, 30C is nice and comfy. You might find it unbearable, but I won't.
Went on a vacation to the virgin isles some years ago. The couple that ran the villa where we stayed worked the open air (roof, open sides) front desk every day with the temp about 37C and the humidity about 98%. They had no problem with those temps (meanwhile, I was sweltering).
The wife told me about a trip she'd made to DC once, when she visited the temp in DC was about it's typical 32C or so day. Her story was she had to wear a thick winter jacket because she was freezing in that temp.
It's all relative to what you get used to.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday August 20 2020, @04:51PM (1 child)
So, to the penny pinchers and third world / developing countries. Sure, some people might be comfortable enough at 86F+ in the shade with a breeze, but I'd wager most Americans who live where it gets to 100F+ regularly, would want something that makes it substantially cooler.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2020, @04:58PM
I used to live just north of the tropics and one of the things that I learned is that it's generally less about the temperature than it is about how you manage it. Yes, there is a point where you cannot manage it other than with air conditioning, but around the world there have been some brilliant solutions. As a practice, I used the air conditioner sparingly, usually starting at what was comfortable for me at the time and bumping it up a few degrees everytime I got adjusted. I also made a point of adjusting my food to match what was available in season at the time. It made a massive difference.
Around here it only gets into the 90s for a few days before dropping back to the 70s, the spike is extremely dangerous because the body doesn't have the chance to acclimate to it. Whereas other parts of the country, or even state, get hotter weather for weeks on end, we don't get to benefit from our body's adjusting to it. As a result, it's just harder to deal with and harder on the body than it would be if the area were like that for weeks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2020, @05:40PM (2 children)
86 is far from comfortable. My office is constantly 86 and it's miserable.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2020, @11:40PM (1 child)
Did you flunk reading comprehension?
This device was outside.
Where the outside temp was 86F.
For those accustomed to a 95+F outside temp being hot and uncomfortable, a temp of 86F outside is quite comfortable by comparison.
Indoor temps are not what is being discussed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 21 2020, @02:56PM
Humidity is the bigger factor.
Irony aside, chill the "offtopic" eff out. This is a blog. Nobody owns the discussion. Perfectly legit part of the general discussion under TFA.